Residents posted the video from the shelter on social media. The footage shows that the protective structure people are meant to run to during an air raid is in a state far from usable. After residents' complaints, the first deputy mayor initiated a joint inspection.

Oleksandr Pashchynskyi, First Deputy Mayor of Irpin, reported the results of the inspection and the next steps on his Telegram channel.

The inspection was carried out together with the emergency service

The commission included representatives of the State Emergency Service of the Kyiv region and the executive committee of Irpin City Council. The conclusion is unambiguous: the premises do indeed have significant defects and are not currently ready for use as intended.

The key detail in this story is ownership. The civil defence shelter is on the balance sheet of the Kyiv city branch of Ukrtelecom. By law it is the balance holder, not the city council, who is responsible for maintaining the shelter properly and keeping it permanently ready.

A demand to Ukrtelecom and a fallback option

The executive committee has demanded that Ukrtelecom immediately bring the shelter into proper condition, equip it with the necessary facilities and guarantee round-the-clock unobstructed access for residents.

At the same time the city proposed an alternative: if the company is unable to put the structure in order, it should transfer it into the communal ownership of the Irpin community. Responsibility for upkeep would then pass to the city, and residents would get a working shelter sooner than the correspondence would last.

The issue remains under control

The city council is awaiting an official reply from Ukrtelecom with specific measures and deadlines for fixing the defects. Pashchynskyi said he would continue to monitor the matter personally.

For Irpin the topic is not abstract: the city is regularly under air raid alerts, and shelters on the books of enterprises and agencies are a typical grey zone where the formal owner is far away and the people are close by.

Nota bene

Bucha FM is an independent news site and station for the Bucha district. We cover what matters to the community, and we work for you — and because of you. Joining the people who make this possible is simple: support us with any amount.

Support the station